The Marauder Era
by lomegan
Summary: The Marauder Era! James, Lily, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and Snevillus all back at Hogwarts
1. Chapter 1

"Lily?"

Lily turned around and great her long time friend Severus Snape. She gave a huge smile to him, ran across platform 9 3/4, and engulfed him in a tight hug. Abandoning her trunk she greeted her friend happily as they returned to Hogwarts for their fifth year.

"Sev!" Lily cheered; she backed out of the hug and couldn't help her elation, "I feel like I haven't seen you in so-"

Lily was cut off by the deafening whistle of the Hogwarts Express, she squeezed Snape's shoulder and left to get her things. Snape looked at Lily in a whole new perspective, her blazing red hair had grown longer, her body had more curves, and her face was as beautiful as ever. He smiled to himself and thought about how great life would be when they grew up, hopefully more then just friends.

A sudden shove pulled Snape out of his thoughts.

"Hey Snevillus!"

An all too familiar snicker disturbed Snape, he shuddered and turned to face Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and the worst: James Potter.

Snape noticed Peter had gotten plumper in his Gryffindor sweater; he stood in the back observing quietly. Remus had two, rather large, spell books in his arms and was studying a pamphlet about magical creatures. Sirius on the other hand was standing confidently, with his black hair covering his eyes, giving Snape a cocky expression. Finally, Snape's eyes rested on the awful James Potter, his disgustingly messy hair, with his smug smile, and that blasted snitch he always carried around. Snape noticed that James had grown a few inches over the summer cause Snape to frown.

"Look James! He's is scared out of his pants!" Sirius snickered, "Maybe we should do him a favor and take them off!"

Sirius roared with laughter as Remus looked at Sirius and chuckled. Peter laughed along with Sirius and gave James and hesitant pat on the back. James nodded and took out his wand.

"Potter!"

All four marauders froze and looked towards Lily Evans murderous glare. James slowly put his want down and took out his most exaggerated smile.

"Yes, Evans?" James looked her in the eye and smiled, showing all his teeth.

Lily, completely unfazed put both hands on her hips and glared and James. It seemed only Snape noticed how close their faces were together. He immediately felt a fiery rage bubble inside him. He marched towards Lily and pulled her away from James's eyes.

Lily gave him a stunned look, Snape had to think of something to say, an excuse.

"I can protect myself!" Snape realized he had said it a lot more harshly then he had meant it.

James looked puzzled at Snape and Lily's small conversation, his puzzlement quickly turned into an overconfident smile.

Lily had obviously been hurt, but she didn't want it to get to her. Instead, she gave him a cold look then turned back to her trunk and got on the train to Howgarts.

xxxx

When James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter boarded the train, James felt himself feelings awful about how Snape treated Lily. It made James want to hex the living daylights out of him.

"What's the matter James? You look green mate," Sirius laughed.

_Should I tell them that I feel bad? _James wuickly removed this thought from his mind. He couldn't feel bad for Evans or _Snevillus._

James rolled his eyes and started playing with his snitch.

_Why do I feel so bad… Shake it off James you stupid bloke! Its Snevillus and Evans for Merlin's sake! _James still couldn't shake the feeling of guilt off of his shoulders.

"I'll be back in a bit," James rose out of his seat.

"Where are you going James?" Sirius asked.

"Um.. the bathroom," he replied as he slid out the compartment, in the search for Lily Evans.

xxxx

_What was he thinking! Ugh! _ Lily thought about Snape's unusual reaction to her trying to defend him. _It's not like I hadn't protected him before! I cannot believe he has the nerve to even say that! We are friends... at last we I thought we were…_

Lily dived into her thoughts when a knock had her compartment resurfaced her. She immediately knew who it was: Snape. She had to talk to him then she stood up abruptly.

"Sev, what was that-" Lily halted her serious conversation when she met a pair of hazel eyes, framed with black lashes, behind rectangular glasses. She never noticed how pretty James's eyes were. She silently scolded herself; _James Potter is not pretty in any way!_ she thought to herself, pathetically.

She collected herself, "Oh, it's you, Potter. What do _you_ want?" Lily said as she sat down on the compartment seat. Lily noticed James smiled, slightly, but she also saw something she had never seen before in James. This smile was neither smug nor cocky, but was actually a genuine grin. In response Lily raised an eyebrow, highly suspicious.

"Did you come here to torment me? Or did you just want to gloat in my face about what Sev said to me?" Lily crossed her arm across her chest, even though she could see that it wasn't James Potter's intent to boast or brag, she had to say just to make sure he didn't noticed that she noticed his all too genuine smile.

James only chuckled and sat down next to Lily. She automatically scooted away from him and eyed him suspiciously.

"Calm down. I don't bite." He grinned at Lily.

"Are you sure about that Potter?" Lily returned.

"Positive, Evans." James laughed at Lily's doubt.

James and Lily had never seen eye to eye on anything. Whenever Lily even got near James the conversation would usually end up in a fight. So, when Lily caught herself locking eyes with James Potter, she looked away and put on a hard mask.

"So, what do you want?" she asked coldly.

James was completely unabashed by Lily's tone, "I wanted to apologize."

Lily was taken back. She wasn't expecting the sincerity in his voice. He sounded like a completely different person. She grew even more suspicious and looked at him dubiously.

"What? You don't believe me?" James asked.

Lily thought about her answer. _Should I hear Potter out? Ugh! No! He's not even worth my time!_

"No! Not at all! Just tell me why you are really here so you can just leave!" Lily spat.

James frowned. He was hurt by Lily's words, which was very, very strange. He tried to figure out his emotions, but Lily took action first

She rose from her seat and was about to leave the compartment. James panicked, he didn't want her to leave, he wanted her to hear him out.

James grabbed Lily's hand.

Lily turned back around and looked at her hand, now completely covered by another. She looked back to James slowly.

_He's holding my hand! _Lily would usually be in complete disgust, but she didn't want to pull it away. She shook her head and withdrew her hand from his.

"What do you want Potter! "Lily was still recovering from his hand on hers.

"Please, sit back down." James almost begged Lily.

She examined him once more, and sat back down.

"What's this all about?" Lily said, more softly.

"I told you, I wanted to apologize, I don't know why I feel so bad. But, I don't want a guilty conscience on my first day back to Howgarts," James paused, "I'm sorry, Lily."

"You called me Lily." _Why did I say that? Why did I say that? I'm so stupid! _Lily thought. The only thing that she got from James's apology was that he called her by her first name. _How pathetic. _She groaned.

"Oh.. Um.. yeah I guess I did," James smiled, "Evans."

Lily blushed.

James looked at that color on Lily's face, _Wow… She's amazing.. _James thought, He cursed himself. _It's Evans. Come on Potter! Get a grip!_

James stood up, "Well, I guess that's all I wanted to say." He ran a hand through his hair.

_He's gorgeous.. No! Shut it Lily! _Lily continued to look at James, transfixed on his eyes and face.

"Um… yeah, right you can go!" Lily tried to say it with as much disgust as possible, but it ended up sounding rather odd.

James gave her a strange look then laughed, he closed the compartment, leaving a stunned Lily behind.

xxxx

James stood outside the Lily's compartment, _What was that? What is wrong with me, I was nearly glued to her face! I'm losing it…_

He ran his hands down his face; he took off his glasses and subbed his eyes. Before he knew it he returned to his compartment.

"Geez mate, what did you eat?" Sirius barked a laugh. Peter laughed along with Sirius. Remus threw a glance at James's completion.

"Are you okay James? You look ill," Remus said.

"I feel ill," James groaned. _Yeah! Feel ill about Evans! _

"Do… you need to go to the bathroom again…?" Remus asked slowly.

"No, no im fine," He answered immediately.

Sirius shook it off and continued mapping out pranks for this year with Peter, but Remus had other plans. When James sat by Remus, he cast a silencing charm over their heads.

"What's the real problem, mate?" Remus asked, worriedly.

James looked at Sirius, he looked completely oblivious to Remus's words.

_Silencing charm, _James thought, Remus was so clever and observant.

James always knew that Remus was just most open-minded of the group. James felt always felt comfortable sharing his actual thoughts with him.

"It's Lily Evans," He started.

James waited for a shocked expression from Remus, but all he said was, "Okay, continue."

"When I went to the bathroom, I actually went to go see Lily, in her compartment," James continued. James did note a hint of surprise in Remus's face.

"I went there to apologize to her, don't ask me why! I have no idea myself. It's only Evans! I felt really guilty about what Snevillus said to her," James paused, "When I went to go talk to her, she was, as usual, completely hostile, but I hated it! I wanted her to hear me out! I had to grab her hand for her just to face me properly. I don't know Remus. I probably sound like a crazy bloke." James shook his head.

Remus smiled and put a hand on James's shoulder, "You're not crazy, mate. You're totally and complete in _love!"_ Remus laughed.

James looked at Remus in horror. _Evans? Me in love with Evans!_

James shook his head, "This is not going to be fun."

Remus laughed and took the silencing charm off them.

xxxx

After James had left, Lily balled up into an egg form. She didn't know what that was back there. It was like she was staring at James! James Potter! The one boy who she hated with all her might.

A knock at her compartment, once again, pulled Lily out of her thoughts. She looked up, for some reason hoping it was James.

"James?"

Alice Williams walked in, shocked at her best friend's call. Lily looked down and blushed deeply. Alice sat down by Lily and giggled.

"Did you just call me James? As in James _Potter?_" Alice said with a mocking tone. She suddenly casted a golden snitch and started catching it. Lily gave her a playful glare and waved away the golden mist.

"Oh I knew this day would come!" Alice joked, "All that nonsense fighting was all just sexual tension." Alice snickered as Lily shuddered.

"Alice!" Lily groaned, "It's nothing like that! I still hate Potter! He is a gor- an arrogant person who doesn't know when to shut his trap!"

"Mhmm, okay Lily, you are just in denial." Alice giggled and started jabbering about how James and Lily would make a great couple.

"Alice please! You are driving me crazy!" Lily covered her ears. Alice put an arm around Lily and laughed.

"Don't worry. Once you face the truth, all of this will be a lot easier to take in," Alice smiled and whispered, "Lily _Potter."_

Lily's eyes nearly popped out of her sockets, Alice laughed heartily at Lily's reaction.

"That sounds _dreadful!" _Lily exclaimed, exaggerating her gags.

xxxx

"James? Where are you?"

James turned around to the sound of Lily's voice. He saw her ruby red hair flow gracefully past her shoulders. Her face moving closer to his; James could smell her flowery essence, intoxicating him. Her emerald green eyes piercing James's hazel ones. Lily came so close to James that there noses were nearly touching. She slowly raised her hands to his face and removed his glasses. She gently grabbed his face in her soft hands and pulled his face closer to hers.

"James!" Remus's voice pulled James out of his fantasy.

"What? Wha- What's going on?" he stuttered confusedly.

James rubbed his eyes tiredly and woke to Sirius's mad laughter along with Peter and quiet chuckles from Remus.

"What are you going on about?" James asked impatiently.

"You! You.. AHAH! Lily… Evans…" Sirius managed to get out between barks.

James slapped his forehead rather hard. He got up from his seat and gave a strong punch into Sirius's arm. James was beyond furious that he couldn't even manage to control his thoughts. He was about to leave the compartment to get some time alone to figure out his feelings.

"Oh, James. Don't go Sirius was only being a prat." Peter smiled.

"I just need to… figure out things, okay, give me a minute." After glaring at Sirius he left their compartment completely unprepared for the truth.

James ran a hand through his hair and walked down the train's narrow hall.

_I can't possibly have any feelings, besides disgust, about Lily Evans. She might be beautiful, and witty, and smart, and amazing, and nice, and- oh Merlin…_

James rubbed his temples vigorously. Could it be that the girl he had despised before could, now, be the girl of his dreams? James found himself wandering aimlessly around the train when a force struck his chest. It took him a minute to realize that he was on the floor blinded from the loss of his glasses.

"What the-?" James rubbed his head, he had been hit with a spell. He felt around for his glasses to see who the culprit was when he heard a sneer.

"Not so great now! Huh Potter?" Snapes voice rang in James's head.

James located his glasses when a crushing force smashed his hand into his glasses causing James to cry out.

"Are you completely mad Snevillus!" James yelled while glaring at the dark blob. He cradled his bloodied hand. James suddenly felt light headed from the loss of blood and throbbing from his hand.

"Sev?"

James turned around sightlessly, but he already knew the voice. James could see her red hair even with out his glasses, his heart skipped a beat, and for a moment he forgot about his hand and even his blindness he could see Lily Evans perfectly.

"Sev what are you doing!" Lily ran over to James and took his hand in hers, not afraid of the blood that had gotten on her robes. She glared at Snape violently. She never thought that Snape would actually physically hurt one of the marauders, and to her, violence was never okay.

"What are _you _doing, Lils? Protecting him like a mother hen? Get off of him so I can cause him some real pain!" Snape cold gaze could only stare at James Potter.

Suddenly from behind, Lucious Malfoy had come with his own group Rodolphous Lestrange, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black.

Lily fiercely hated the so-called "Death Eaters" in her mind they were 100 times worse then fifty marauders. She glared at them while holding an almost unconscious James.

"Wow Severus, I didn't know you had it in you," Lucious said pleasantly.

Rodolphous laughed evilly, "I guess you're not the coward I thought you were Snape. I guess you can be in the Death Eaters."

"Look at your wand it's quivering! Ha!" Bellatrix snorted, then became very serious, "Choose! You moronic little outcast! The pretty red-headed girl or a group who will never leave you for prats."

Lily's eyes begged for Snape to get with his senses.

"Sev, look what you have done, please, don't hurt anyone else, no matter who it is." Lily pleaded.

Snape glanced at Lily and James, "You're the one who hurt me! Look at yourself protecting Potter." Without another word Snape turned his back on his best friend and love, and went with the Death Eaters.

xxxx

Lily had tears in her eyes while dragging an unconscious James to try and find Remus, Sirius, or Peter.

"James, are you okay?" she brushed his face with her hand, "Sirius! Remus! Peter! Help!"

All of a sudden Lily had come out of the Silencing Charm's boundary and the whole aisle was filled with heads popping out of their compartments until Sirius, Remus, and Peter saw James and Lily both bloody. Lily caught a glimpse of Sirius's expression; it was a mask of pure horror. She had never seen Sirius look so vulnerable, his cocky, confident façade had crumpled at the sight of James, a person who he thought of like a brother, hurt and weak. All of them ran to Lily and helped her with James.

"What in the world happened?" Remus asked frantically while lift James on one of his shoulders and another on Sirius's. Lily was beyond hysterical.

"Sev, he- he did this to James," she cried softly while wiping her eyes.

Peter put an arm around Lily, "It's okay Lily, we'll get him."

"Yeah we will," muttered Sirius.

Lily noticed that Sirius had barley said a word; he looked so scared when she first saw him, now all his eyes said was vengeance.

As Sirius and Remus were taking James back to their compartment, Professor McGonagall heard the commotion and entered the train frantically. She covered her hand over her mouth. None of them even realized they had arrived at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall led Remus and Sirius into the castle.

"I'm sorry Miss Evans, I'm going to have to ask you to stay out here with Mr. Pettigrew." Professor McGonagall said softly, "Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin will join you shortly, then Professor Dumbledore will need to speak with you."

Lily could only nod, she wasn't looking forward to turning in her former best friend.

xxxx

Lily waited outside of Professor Dumbledore's office curling her red hair around her fingers, nervously.

"Miss Evans?" a warm voice called out.

Lily walked, shakily, into a huge office. Shelves piled on each other, covered with nick-nacs and books. Long curtains draped over the large windows, making his office look darker, but there were candles creating a warm yellow tint. Moving frames covered the Professor's office.

Professor Dumbledore motioned for Lily to take a seat. She complied and sat in a very large chair. He greeted her with a warm smile and she automatically smiled back.

"Hello Miss Evans," Dumbledore said with a grin.

"Hello Professor," she said timidly, Lily had never been to the headmaster's office before.

"I wanted to discuss today's events with you," He continued after popping in a lemon drop, "I'm aware that you were there when Mr. Potter was attacked."

Lily nodded.

Dumbledore smiled, "I do need you to tell me who did this to Mr. Potter, he is being healed as we speak, but violence towards any student will not be tolerated, as you probably know well." He finished softly.

"Yes, Professor I know," Lily paused, "It… it was Severus Snape."

Dumbledore nodded, "What happened to James's hand?"

"I- I think Sev stepped on James's hand when he was try to get his glasses… You see Professor, I didn't really see everything I saw Sev step on James's hand though."

Dumbledore nodded again, "The cuts in Mr. Potter's hand looked fairly deep," Lily shuddered, "he must have yelled for help," another shudder, "do you know why nobody heard him?"

"I suppose Sev put a Silencing Charm around that area so no one would hear…" Lily looked down, and just realized if she hadn't come how much more damage Sev could have inflicted on James _What are you doing, Lils? Protecting him like a mother hen? Get off of him so I can cause him some real pain! _Lily shuddered at Snape's words.

"Thank you Miss Evans, that's all I need to hear," Dumbledore smiled at Lily and led her out of his office.

Once out of the headmasters office, Lily took a huge breath in and headed towards the infirmary.

xxxx

Snape shuddered when Lucious patted him on the back.

"Good work Severus, you definitely proved yourself today." Lucious said.

Snape hated leaving Lily like that with James Potter, but he had no other choice. He remembered how Lily protected James. Truthfully, he was engulfed with rage and envy. He scoffed at her betrayal; she was the one who hated James Potter! And now, suddenly she was all over him! Snape couldn't understand her. Snape thought that worrying about Lily's every decision was extremely unhealthy, no matter how much he tried to deny it. He needed to stop obsessing over Lily Evans and concentrate on something that was stable and sure: the Death Eaters.

xxxx

Lily sat in the seat next to James Potter's infirmary bed. Even though the cut was only in his palm, shards of glass were also stuck in his wrists, causing him to loose even more blood. She scanned his face carefully, his extremely messy black hair, long face with a defined jaw, his straight nose, and his full lips, parted slightly. He was beautiful. Lily smiled.

Lily was almost unaware of Sirius, Remus, and Peter hovering over James. It was completely silence until the least expected person to speak, spoke.

"Lil… Lily…" James whispered in a raspy voice.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter all turned toward Lily and looked at her with nearly the same expression of complete and utter shock. Sirius suppressed a barking laugh. Everyone became very quiet when James started talking again.

"Lily?" James eyes fluttered a bit, "I mean Ev-Evans?"

James gave a weak laugh, and Lily laughed along with the rest of the Marauders.

"How are you feeling, mate?" Sirius asked.

"I'd be a lot better if I weren't blind," James chuckled softly.

Lily realized that Professor McGonagall gave her his glasses after she had mended the broken pieces.

"Here," Lily handed a surprised James his glasses. They locked eyes for a moment and Lily looked down to her feet.

"Thanks," James said as he put his rectangular framed glasses back on.

Sirius elbowed Remus when Lily blushed.

"Do you remember anything mate?" Peter asked from the back.

James looked at his small crowd, "Not really, I just remember Evans coming out of no where and smothering me." James laughed and winked.

Lily's head snapped up "Did not! I saved your arse Potter! Remember that!" she said playfully.

Sirius laughed heartily, elbowing Remus again.

"Oh man, this year is going to be a blast." He laughed.


	2. Denial

James rested in his infirmary bed with all his friends and Lily Evans around him. He still didn't know what to consider her. He knew no matter how much he wanted to deny it, he liked her, a lot, on the contrary he thought she was perfect. He caught himself staring at her more often, but the great thing about it was he would catch Lily staring back.

He smiled to himself.

His arm was gaining feeling back so he got up from his bed and gathered his school robes and was walking up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. As James reached the painting to enter the common room a voice greeted him from behind.

"Potter!"

James's nostrils flared, his images of Lily that calmed his mind vanished and replace with violent images of himself punching Severus Snape.

James turned around to face Snape.

"What do _you _want," James hissed, "You black, hearted coward. Hitting me with a spell from behind."

James's usual, warm hazel eyes were now as dark as coal, digging into Snape's.

"Do you see what you've done, _Snevillus_. Not only will you have serious consequences for hurting me, but you also have made yourself a target. Oh! And I almost forgot the best part. Lily, probably, despises you just as much as I do, so I guess in the end you're the one with the most damage. I suppose your ridiculous fantasies about Lily can be put into a grave," James glare continued to grow more intense, "While your at it, you should dig your own as well because that is the only way you will ever be able to see Lily!"

James finished his monologue with a fiery rage. He wouldn't waste another second of his time with that fiend.

He couldn't believe the nerve Snape had, trying to what? Confront him? Or try and hurt him again? He suddenly was afraid that Snape and with 'Death Eaters' would try and hurt Sirius, Remus, Peter, or even worse: Lily. James's heart beat faster. Lily did tell Dumbledore that Snape had been the culprit. Would they think that was being a traitor? James had to warn Lily before she tried to see Snape. The last thing he wanted was Lily to get hurt after the progress they had made at becoming better friends.

As James rounded the corner he ran into Lily, nearly spilling her drink. His rage had been completely extinguished, and a huge grin broke out on his face instead.

"Hey," James said lamely. He rolled his eyes at his nervousness around the stunning red head.

Lily looked at James with her piercing green eyes and gave him a brilliant smile.

"Hey Potter," she locked eyes with James then focused behind him.

Lily saw a shadow of a black robe quickly round the corner in a blur.

She focused back on James, his head now turned to see what Lily was staring at. Lily noticed that James's hand had balled up into fight fists.

She gently touched his hand, and he snapped his head back to Lily and gazed at her hand on his, he slowly unclenched his fists.

"Is there something wrong?" Lily asked cautiously.

James ran his hand through his hair.

"Lily, listen, I know that Severus is your friend, but I get a bad feeling from him, I told you back on the train that I really did feel bad from what he said to you at the platform," James paused the sighed, "I just don't want you to get hurt or anything."

Even though her head was spinning from what he just admitted. How he cared for her enough that he didn't want her to get hurt. Lily couldn't help but be a bit annoyed at him. She still had loyalty towards Sev. He was her first friend that was a wizard and she did spend a lot of time hating that Marauders. James didn't know Snape like Lily did.

"I get where your coming from," Lily started, "I really do, sometimes I get a weird vibe off of Sev too… but you don't know him like I do James, this is just going to be a phase, he just needs to calm down first."

Even Lily could hear the doubt in her words.

"Lily.. I do know him, just from what he did to me on that train fully explained his true intentions, he is the type of person who will backstab you, no matter how close you are. He might be loyal, but it didn't seem like he was to you." James warned.

Lily suddenly snatched her hand away from James's.

"You don't know him at all, _Potter! _I haven't even talked to him yet! He has a right to be mad at me! I just need to talk to him and everything will be back to normal!" Lily said the words before she could stop them. Lily's own heart ached; she didn't want things to go back to 'normal' she liked spending time with James. She never knew how much she could like him after she saw past his big head.

Lily could see the hurt on James face, but he quickly covered it.

"Fine, if that's how you want it _Evans._"

James took one last look at those amazing green eyes, and walked away leaving a teary Lily and his heart behind.

xxxx

Snape needed to apologize to Lily, he felt guilty about what he had done to her. Leaving her behind like that on the train. He was being an awful friend to her even though she was the one hanging around with the Marauders. No, he couldn't think about that bad stuff she had done to him, it would just get him mad and back out of talking to Lily.

He was pacing near the Gryffindor common room waiting for Lily, the only reason why he knew where it was, was because of Lily.

Then he saw him. Snape saw James Potter his back was faced towards Snape. Anger pulsed through him, he was stealing away Lily and Snape just stood there and let it happen. He shouted the words before he could stop it from flowing.

"Potter!"

Snape had recoiled even at the sound of James's name. He hated anything that had to do with James Potter. He wanted to just get away so he could go find Lily so he kept his mouth shut.

"What do _you _want," James hissed, "You black, hearted coward. Hitting me with a spell from behind."

Snape shuddered. His temper was rising.

"Do you see what you've done, _Snevillus_. Not only will you have serious consequences for hurting me, but you also have made yourself a target. Oh! And I almost forgot the best part. Lily, probably, despises you just as much as I do, so I guess in the end you're the one with the most damage. I suppose your ridiculous fantasies about Lily can be put into a grave," James glare continued to grow more intense, "While your at it, you should dig your own as well because that is the only way you will ever be able to see Lily!"

Snape could barely stay still without lashing out on James. It seemed like James had had enough as well and he stormed off. Snape rushed after him hoping to get a punch when he saw Lily. Her beautiful red hair and bright green eyes, Snape could almost smell her flowery scent. She had a mesmerized gaze in her eyes.

But he stopped suddenly as he realized who mesmerized her and it nearly caused Snape to vomit. He rushed around the corner to try and compose himself. He took a deep breath and peeked around the corner.

He saw the girl of his dreams holding his enemy's hand. Snape had enough. He rushed to the Slytherin dorms holding in tears of betrayal.

xxxx

James returned to his dorm, miserable and defeated.

"Hey mate, why the long face?" Sirius joked, "Evans found out you obsess about her every second."

Remus rolled his eyes.

When James didn't retort back to Sirius's jokes, Sirius knew something must have actually gone wrong. Both Sirius and Remus went by James's side while Peter watched from his bed.

"James… what happened? You look like someone died." Remus said softly.

James hung his head low, "She said she wanted thing to go back to normal."

Remus and Sirius looked at each other. James had always flirted around with different girls, but he had never seriously liked any.

James suddenly lifted his head up, "If she wants things to go back to normal. Then I'll make them go back to normal."

xxxx

Lily wandered around trying to keep her mind off of James. She needed a ditraction so she hurried to find Snape. She looked everywhere for him, she finally settled on going down to the dungeon where the Slytherin common room was. When Lily heard Snape voice she suddenly stopped.

"Trust me Severus, no _girl _is worth your time."

Her eyes narrowed at the voice of Rodolphus Lestrange.

"I know, trust me. Lily Evans will not be in my life ever again. Nor do I want her in my life." Snape said icily.

The first round of tears fell silently off of Lily's cheeks.

"That stupid little red-head. I don't even see what you saw in her. She is a no good Mudblood."

_Mudblood? _Lily never heard of the word before, perhaps she could go ask Jam- _No. I can't I've hurt him bad enough… maybe if I apologize. _

"I couldn't agree more Rodolphus, as I told you before I will never talk to Lily Evans, she is not worth my time." Snape said.

"Good." Rodolphus paused, "Welcome to the Death Eaters."

xxxx

Lily ran back to her dorm. She hated Severus Snape! She hated him! Lily couldn't stand it.

_James was right, I should have listened, _Lily thought.

"Lily?" Alice looked concerned at Lily's face. "What happened, are you okay?"

Alice came towards Lily and put an arm around her.

Lily shook her head.

"What happened Lily?"

Lily explained, to the best of her ability while crying in between, her story. When she told Alice that Snape had agree that she was a Mudblood Alice nearly cried out.

"He called you what!" Alice stood up and looked at Lily seriously, "That low life bastard! How could he care you such a name!"

Lily didn't even realized that it meant such a bad thing, but after hearing Alice's cuss words and swearing she agreed she would never use it.

"This is absurd! I can't even believe Snape would say that! Coward!" Alice hissed.

"Listen Alice I just need to talk to Jam- Remus… Yeah! I need to talk to Remus!" Lily sprinted from their dorm and went into the Gryffindor common room where she found Remus reading a book with no James in sight. She exhaled and sat by Remus.

"Hello Lily," Remus chuckled. He put his book down and faced her, "Considering that you have one of my best mates pacing his dorm tormenting himself this very second, makes it clear that I shouldn't be talking to you… but seeing that you are here, it probably means that you have something very important to tell me?"

Lily smiled at Remus's intellect, "That's exactly correct. I feel dreadful about what I said to James, I don't want things to go back to normal. He was right about Sev, he completely, utterly backstabbed me. He called me a mudblood!"

Remus looked shocked, "He did?"

Lily nodded.

"Listen Lily, I'll talk to James about it, but I'm just going to warn you. James is going to make your life a living hell for the next few weeks."

Lily groaned, "How?"

As if on cue, James came down to the Gryffindor common room.

"Remus? Are you-," James's eyes focused on Lily then narrowed, "What are you doing here Evans?" he said coldly.

Lily rolled her eyes, "I see what you mean," she whispered to Remus.

Lily suddenly got up, _two can play at this game._

"I'm not doing anything _here._ Not anywhere that _you_ will be _Potter_." Lily winked at Remus and walked out.

James stared after her, wide-eyed with shock.

"Mate," Remus laughed, "You look like you've been hit with a petrifying spell."

James looked over to Remus, "She- she wasn't even fazed. I need to try harder."

James marched back up to his dorm shaking and nodding his head to different insults he could say to Lily. Remus chuckled at his best friend and continued reading his book.

Xxxx

A few months went by and both James and Lily were at each other's throats with insults.

"No one wants you here Potter!"

"Who said I wanted to be in the same room with you Evans!"

"Then why don't you leave!"

"Because your hair was blinding my way to the exit!"

"Don't even get me started on _hair _Potter!"

Their small quarrels were the only communication that had in those weeks, but behind the scenes they were dying to see each other. Asking their friends constantly to ask how each other were doing. Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Alice were being driven insane.

"We really need to do something about them," Alice said, exhausted from Lily's babbling about how much she 'hated' James. Alice had never seen Lily act like this about a guy before. She had noticed that ever since Snape had been out of her life, she had been more involved in her social life. Alice thought it was because she always thought of Snape as her brother and she was always so busy trying to help him out of trouble.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Ya think? This was been going on for, what? Five months!"

Remus sighed, "On one of my exams I wrote down the Lily Evans insults James had been rehearsing. McGonagal thought I was losing my mind. If I hadn't explained to her that James was going crazy I think I would have been in some serious trouble."

Alice giggled and covered her mouth.

At the moment Frank Longbottom entered the room with a huge plant in his hands.

"Hey Frank," Alice said shyly as she blushed.

Sirius eyed Alice then looked back and forth between Frank and Alice then elbowed Remus. Remus shook his head at Sirius obviousness.

"Oh," Frank shifted his plant to the side so he could see Alice's face, "Hey Alice."

He smiled at her, "Is that for Herbology?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, I decided to do some extra work, I always found it kind of fascinating," Frank and Alice were still staring at each other while Sirius was looking back and forth between them, "Well I need to get going on this work, but I'll see you later."

After Frank left the room Alice was still in a daze.

"What is Merlin's name was _that?" _Sirius questioned skeptically.

Alice turned to him and narrowed her eyes, "None of your business! Back to James and Lily."

Remus chuckled at Alice's obvious discomfort.

"Um, right then. James and Lily," Sirius started, "What's the plan?"

"I say that we force them to talk to each other and make them both face the fact that they like each other," Peter suggested happily.

All Sirius, Remus, and Alice eyed Peter's logic. Peter looked to his feet.

"It was just a thought," he sighed.

"We could just influence to talk to each other though," Alice commented.

Sirius scratched his head, "What do you mean?"

"Let's just keeping talking about them, you guys to James about Lily and I'll talk to Lily about James. Make him go completely mad!" Alice almost looked evil while she was unraveling the rest of her plans to 'torture' Lily and James. Remus became more intrigued by Alice's plans then his own book, so he started listening and suggesting his own ideas. After hours of scheming Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Alice were going to drive their best friends insane.

xxxx

Alice walked down the grand hall for breakfast to meet Lily. Her plans ready to unfold. She kept walking down the Gryffindor table until she spotted the red head eating a small bowl of cereal and reading a large book.

"Lily!" Alice nearly screamed her name.

Lily jumped, startled at her friend's loud greeting. Her milk a cereal now covered parts of her book. Lily looked at Alice exasperatedly and shook her head while laughing.

"Alice!" Lily mocked then rolled her eyes, "Sit down."

Alice complied.

"So would you like to explain why my breakfast is on my books?" Lily asked playfully while picking off bits of cereal off her books.

Alice giggled then lowered her head a bit, "Well, actually I wanted to ask you something." She said softly.

Lily eyed Alice, "What is it?"

Alice fidgeted with her hands, "Well, I… I just wanted to know if…"

"Alice, just tell me," Lily pressed.

"I wanted to know if you were still interested in James Potter," Alice finished while observing Lily's reaction carefully.

_Alice is interested in _James_? _Lily thought in her mind. She realized that a new jealous feeling erupted; Lily barely managed to control her feelings. She was over James, in fact, she hated him. She started having thoughts of _Alice_ holding James's hand, and _Alice _waiting with Sirius, Remus, and Peter if James got hurt again. Lily saw _Alice _and James holding hands walking around campus having fun together and laughing. James's lean body holding _Alice _when it was cold, his beautiful light hazel eyes looking at _Alice's _face. She imagined James ruffling is perfectly messy black hair when he got nervous talking to _Alice,_ not Lily. She pushed her disturbing thoughts aside and came back to reality.

"Um, yeah of course! Besides I never liked Potter," she lied.

"Great! Thanks Lils!" Alice said happily, she got up quickly and hugged Lily then strode off to where the marauders were sitting.

Lily noticed she had picked the spot right in front of James, her jealousy bubbling dangerously high.

A ripping sound pulled Lily out of her envious daze. Lily had ripped one of the pages out of her book, she was clutching it with her right hand and she couldn't bring herself to let go. She shook her head and let go of the paper slowly, forcing herself to turn back to her studies and breakfast, trying with all her will power to not run over to James and tell him she was sorry.

xxxx

Sirius watched as Alice came over to their table, Lily looking outraged, he chuckled.

Alice winked at Sirius and nodded. Sirius continued to listen Alice babble to James until Lily had gotten up, took a glance at James and marched out of the Great Hall. Sirius snickered then thought about how he was going to pull his plan off.

"Hey James, can I have a word for a second?" Sirius asked, nervously.

James nodded quickly; appreciating that Sirius gave James an escape from Alice's jabbering.

Sirius signaled with his arm for James to come over a good distance away from everyone else. James scratched his head, confusedly.

"What's wrong Sirius?" James asked, anxious.

"Well I was just thinking…" Sirius started.

"What?" James eyed Sirius.

"Since you're not interested in Evans anymore that maybe I could have a go," Sirius exhaled finishing his request.

James world went into slow motion as those words came out of his best friend's mouth. His fists balled up into tights, white rocks, his fingernails digging into his palm. _Sirius _likes Lily? James's mind went far past the present and what he imagined was his worst nightmare. He saw _Sirius _and Lily together with himself just standing by. _Sirius _and Lily hold hands around campus, flaunting their happiness. James saw Lily comforting _Sirius _when he became angry or sad. Lily being held by _Sirius _instead of himself, James saw himself fade away from Lily's memory and being replaced by his best mate. James saw _Sirius _and Lily laughing together, sneaking out late to cause trouble. He saw Lily's vivid emerald eyes glued to _Sirius's _face, not James's. He saw _Sirius _kissing Lily, making her blush the same color has her stunning hair. His jealously was completely noticeable to Sirius.

Sirius rolled his eyes.

James continued his internal rant. _Stop this Potter! You do not like Evans. _

"Yeah, go for it," he said, bored. However, his insides were screaming to punch Sirius in the face.

Sirius eyed James strangely; he was expecting James to completely explode.

"Thanks, mate," Sirius blurted, then he ran to catch up to Lily.

James couldn't help but turn around to face his nightmare. Lily's beautiful crimson hair pulled back by her green headband, bringing out her bright green eyes. He saw Sirius approach Lily and he took her books in his hands and started walking away with James's dream girl. James let his guard down and let his heart-broken expression completely show on his face. He was tired of faking his feelings.

Suddenly, Lily glanced behind her. Her eyes met James's empty ones.

James quickly turned around and headed back to his table, with a hallow heart.

xxxx

James returned to his dorm, defeated and worn out.

He sagged on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. He held his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes under his rectangular glasses while shaking his head. Remus walked into the dorm and saw an, obviously, depressed looking James. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

Remus sat down next to James and patted him on the shoulder.

"What am I going to do, Lily is driving me crazy," James mumbled behind his hands.

Remus chuckled, "Sounds about right."

James looked up at Remus and rolled his eyes, "What the hell am I suppose to do?"

"Well, whenever I'm overloaded I like to sink into a good book," Remus grinned.

James laughed heartily, "Remus you're too calm to get overloaded, it's unnatural for a hormonal teenager."

Remus then got up and pulled a book out of nowhere, "Try it."

He tossed he book to James and chuckled while walking up the stairs he stopped when he reached the curve.

"I'm calling it a night," Remus pointed at the book, "Have fun."

James shook his head and tossed the book aside. Remus rolled his eyes and continued his way up the stairs.

As soon as Remus disappeared, James quickly reached for the book and started flipping through the pages.

"Ha!" James looked up at a smug Remus peaking around the corner, "Knew it!"

James took a pillow off the couch and chucked it at Remus, "Get out of here you crazy bloke!" James said exasperatedly.

Remus chuckled and tossed the pillow back at James and shook his head while rounding the stairs once again.

James chuckled to himself while shaking his head. He scanned the book Remus had given him.

James took a more comfortable position on the coach sprawling across it. Within an hour James dozed off into a comfortable dream where he and Lily were together.

Xxxx

Lily walked into the Gryffindor common room to pick up her book that Remus had borrowed.

She scanned the empty room. _He said he would be here…_

"Remus?" Lily called out, quietly.

She walked by where the stairs were and called his name again. She sighed and turned around.

She saw James lying on the bright red couch across from her, one of his arms hanging off the side, touching the floor. His legs, too long, which caused his feet to be elevated by the round arm rest, his glasses still on the edge of his nose. Lily's book rested upon his chest. His other hand placed, gently on top of the opened spine. Lily's noticed the slight rise and fall of his chest. She smiled to herself as her heart swelled.

She walked closer until she kneeled by James's face. His eyes closed and his face relaxed and peaceful. She gently touched the side of his face.

Lily could stay here forever, looking at the boy she was in denial about.

She then, slowly, took his glasses off and set them on the floor where his right hand lay.

Lily sat down comfortably and examined his hands. She grabbed his hand tenderly and interlaced her fingers with his. She loved the feeling of holding his hand, even though he was sleeping, the spark she felt couldn't be stronger. She smiled as her lids drooped and grew heavy. Lily soon fell asleep, her head lying next to James's chest and her hand still locked with his.

Xxxx

I hope you liked it! There's more to come (:


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